Category: Featured

Savvy Senior: How seniors can save on auto insurance; how to protect ourself from identity scans; where solo seniors can find help; how to choose a volunteer vacation

May 1, 2025 | By Jim Miller

Navigating Social Security as It Downsizes How Seniors Can Save on Auto Insurance Where Solo Agers Can Find Help How to Protect Yourself from Identity Theft Scams How to Choose a Volunteer Vacation Navigating Social Security as It Downsizes Dear Savvy Senior, Can you offer any tips to help seniors save on their auto insurance? […]

Flip the script on aging for Older Americans Month

| By Jennifer Lasley

Each year, the Central Plains Area Agency on Aging (CPAAA) celebrates Older Americans Month in May. Led by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), this year’s theme, “Flip the Script on Aging,” encourages a transformation in how individuals perceive, talk about and approach aging. “When I think of ‘flipping the script,’ I consider my own […]

Caregiver strain: Understanding the silent struggle

| By Angie King

Caring for a cherished person is an act of love —one that many people willingly take on for aging parents, disabled partners, or chronically ill family members. However, behind this selfless act is a serious challenge, caregiver strain. This term refers to the mental, physical and emotional exhaustion that can result from caring for someone with […]

Well played: Quartet of veteran symphonic performers retire

| By The Active Age

Four musicians with a combined 162 years of service to the Wichita Symphony were recognized during the final concert of the symphony’s 80th season last month. Each received an engraved plaque and lifetime season tickets to the symphony, which is the largest professional symphony in the state. Violinist Chelley Graves (37 years), tubist Phillip Black […]

Donate for chance to win Botanica membership

| By The Active Age

Donate at least $50 to The Active Age, and you could win a family membership to Botanica. The Active Age holds a drawing for a family membership each month from among people on our Honor Roll list of donors. This month’s winner is Mary Mayer. Donations may be made by calling 316-942-5385; through our website, […]

‘Sweet Water Man’: Kansans bring clean water to rural Tanzania schools

| By Beth Bower

Turn on a spigot. Open a bottle of water. Brush your teeth with the water running. For Wichitans, there’s water even in a drought. For the people of rural Tanzania, there are no water assurances. They have streams and wells, but they are full of contaminants such as toxins, bacteria and human waste. And yet, […]

Wichitans picked for Sports Hall of Fame

| By The Active Age

Three Wichitans are among the 2025 inductees into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame. Bob Lutz is a former longtime Wichita Eagle sports columnist and reporter who established the League 42 urban youth baseball organization in Wichita. Kendric Maple won a state wrestling title at Wichita Heights High School before becoming a three-time All-American at […]

Wichitan seeks to lift children out of poverty

March 31, 2025 | By Kierra Koeber

On a chilly day in January, students in the Children 1st program meet at the St. Anne Catholic Church pastoral center in south Wichita to fill backpacks intended for the homeless with food, hygiene supplies and hand-crafted messages of hope. As the middle-schoolers find their seats, Children 1st executive director Kathleen Webb talks about some […]

New appraisals spark appeals

| By Margaret Britton-Mehlisch

Appeals of Sedgwick County’s new property appraisals were running almost double the volume of previous years through mid-March. County Appraiser Mark Clark isn’t surprised. About 87% of residential property owners and 73% of commercial property owners saw an increase in their property valuations for 2025. Homes experienced an average increase of 9%, and commercial property […]

Concordia day trip: Prisioners, orphans and Lincoln’s avenger

| By Joe Norris

CONCORDIA — At one time, there were 4,000 Germans housed in a P.O.W. camp here. Only one nearly escaped. We’re at the WWII German P.O.W. Camp Museum just north of Concordia. It’s a rural area of well-tended farm fields, looking much as it did in January 1943 when the U.S. Government bought the land from […]

‘Radio Weddings’ lifted spirits in Depression-era Wichita

| By Jim Mason

If you were thinking about getting married, would you consider having your ceremony broadcast on the radio nationwide? And held on a grandly decorated stage in the Miller Theater or Central Riverside Park with thousands in attendance? Between 1930 and 1941, that was an option for one lucky couple here in Wichita. It was called […]

WSU retiree group holding brown bags, book club and more

| By The Active Age

The new Wichita State University Retiree Association is up and running and looking for more former WSU employees interested in joining. There’s no charge, and retired faculty and staff from any department of the university are welcome. “The basic purpose of the retiree association is to keep people connected to the university and be responsive […]

Say ‘bonjour’ to visitors from Wichita’s Sister City

| By Celeste Racette

A municipal friendship 80 years in the making gets renewed this month when visitors from Orleans, France, arrive for an event-packed visit. The relationship goes back to August 1944, when the Kansas Regiment of the 137th Infantry 35th Division helped liberate Orleans from Nazi occupation. Located about 80 miles southwest of Paris, Orleans had been […]

Wichita Jazz Festival adding to its legacy with latest lineup

| By Dee Starkey

From its first downbeat in 1972, the Wichita Jazz Festival has been about two things: bringing jazz greats to Wichita and offering educational outreach to area school jazz programs. The combination seems to have worked. The festival is now one of the nation’s oldest, trailing only a few, such as the Newport Jazz Festival and […]

Upcoming Events

| By The Active Age

Library book sale Get a bag of books for a fiver at the Friends of the Wichita Library sale Saturday, April 5. The sale will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Advancing Learning Library, 711 W. Second St. Book lovers can either buy a FWPL cloth tote bag and fill it […]

Butler County Spring Fling beckons

| By The Active Age

EL DORADO — Butler County residents can learn about services and opportunities for older residents and caregivers — and have plenty of fun — at the annual Butler County Spring Fling Senior Resource Fair on Wednesday, April 30. Admission is free. The fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Civic […]

Water conservation focus of Spring Garden Fair

| By The Active Age

With drought restrictions continuing into a new gardening season, the Sedgwick County Extension Master Gardeners are looking to help the community cope. The theme of their 2025 Spring Garden Fair is “Water — Every Drop Counts. The fair will be held from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 3 at the Sedgwick County Extension […]

They’ve been row, row, rowing their boats for 50 years

| By The Active Age

You’ve probably seen them in action along the Arkansas River, but may not have realized that they are Wichita State University’s varsity rowing team. Started in 1975, Shocker Rowing is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month. “We are thrilled to celebrate this significant milestone in Shocker Rowing’s history,” said Calvin Cupp, Head Coach of Shocker […]

Help The Active Age weather challenges

| By Patti Sullivan

We’ve all been around long enough to have developed skills for dealing with change. It’s a necessary part of life. And luckily, we Kansans are known for our resilience. It will come in handy as we cope with the changes and uncertainty in today’s world. We at The Active Age are equally affected and […]

April quiz: Mysteries in history

| By Nancy Wheeler

See if you can use these clues to name famously mysterious figures, objects and places from the past. The answers appear on page 17. 1. What North Carolina island colony was established by John White in 1587 — but all the colonists had disappeared when White returned three years later? 2. Stretching from Miami to […]

Scrambling to afford eggs? Try this tasty egg-free cake

| By The Active Age

The skyrocketing price of eggs prompted one reader of The Active Age to send us this recipe for an egg-free chocolate cake, but not for that reason alone. She says her sister-in-law regularly makes this dairy-free cake simply because it’s delicious. The cake is known by various names, including Depression Cake and World War II […]

Savvy Senior:

| By Jim Miller

Savvy Senior – March Columns Is a Reverse Mortgage a Good Idea? When to Worry About Your Memory How to Replace Important Lost Documents Are You at Risk for Kidney Disease? Is a Reverse Mortgage a Good Idea? Dear Savvy Senior, What can you tell me about reverse mortgages? When my husband passed away […]

Medicaid cuts would be devastating

| By The Active Age

Dear Editor, In a recent Kansas News Service story on Sen. Roger Marshall’s appearance at a town hall meeting in Oakley, Kan. (pop. 1,982), a board member with the local nursing home said he’d hoped to hear about issues “affecting nursing homes right now. Rural hospitals are hurting but all people wanted to do was […]

Wichitans recognized with arts awards

| By The Active Age

Two Wichitans who’ve helped shape the city’s cultural scene for decades were honored last month by Gov. Laura Kelly and the Kansas Arts Commission. Cecil Riney, a musician and former chair of the Friends University Fine Arts Division, and Connie Bonfy, an artist and grant writer/program developer for Ballet Wichita and the Wichita Art Museum, […]

RSVP volunteers honored for work

| By Jennifer Youngers

April is National Volunteer Appreciation Month, a time to recognize the dedication of those who give their time to support their communities. Among these incredible individuals are the volunteers of the AmeriCorps Seniors Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), whose contributions make a profound impact on countless lives. In Sedgwick County, RSVP is sponsored by […]